Thursday, December 29, 2011

I have written two articles about Hannibal’s march across the Alps. The first was posted on February 23, 2009 and the second on August 19, 2010.

The first post had a poor satellite view because Google Earth had combined views from different times which impacted the image.

I wrote the second article to provide a better image and for other reasons. I did some additional research on the subject and found myself more willing to mark what I consider the correct route as opposed to marking a generalization based on the work of previous scholars. I also had located diaries of the trip from Polybius and Livy. These are valuable because they add some important detail to the story. Lastly, I found a picture taken near the summit, which I found useful to convey the geography.

For reasons I can’t explain other than the quirks of internet searching, the original post gets all the reads. As of today, the newer post has been visited 480 times while the original has been viewed 4,697 times!

Sunday, December 18, 2011

The gladius has an interesting history with a lot of holes
in it. Polybius says the Romans stole the design from the Spaniards. We have
evidence of its use circa 380 B.C. and we know it was replaced by 200 A.D, but in
between those dates the it has to be considered the most important weapon of
the Roman Army.

Our story begins with the kings of Rome, most notably
Severus Tullius, the fifth of the six, who reigned from 579-535 B.C. Roman folklore
says that Severus built the first Roman army. Livy, who spun folklore into
history, says the first three classes of soldiers in the Severan army carried
swords. The fact that the other classes did not implies that they were not
standard equipment until later. What this early sword looked like was unknown, although
we have many sword types depicted on Etruscan pottery, so we might assume it
was derived from those.

The adoption of the gladius in the Republican period is not
well documented. We have the story from Livy of Titus Manlius who accepted the
challenge to fight a Gaul. He fastened on his armor and picked up a shield and
“Spanish” swordwhich was better adapted
for close fighting than the Roman sword. As the combatants approached, the Gaul
raised his shield to block any slashes from the Roman and swung his own sword
at Manlius. Avoiding the blow, Titus leaned into the Gaul, stabbed him twice in
the abdomen, and killed him. When did the Romans adopt this Spanish sword? We
don’t know.

Using a thrusting sword in close quarters was described on a least two
other occasions: against the Gauls in 387 B.C. as described by Plutarch and from
Polybius describing Cannae and Telamon. In these cases, the author tells how
the Gallic blades were inferior because of the quality of the metal and the
lack of a point on the sword. The Romans had learned how to avoid the swings of
the Gauls and stab them below the shield. The Gauls could only strike one or
two blows before their swords bent and they would have to stomp on them to straighten
them out.

A confusing story about the origin of the Gladius is given
to us by Polybius. Quoting from a fragment of book twenty-two, “The
Celtiberians excel the rest of the world in the construction of their swords;
for their point is strong and serviceable, they can deliver a cut with both
edges. Wherefore the Romans abandoned their traditional swords after the
Hannibalian War and adopted those of the Iberians. They adopted, I say, the
construction of the swords, but they can, by no means imitate the excellence of
the steel or the other points in which they are elaborately finished.”

What was this ancestral sword they abandoned? Can we assume
a pointed gladius did not exist before that time? Contradicting himself,
Polybius told the story of an engagement by Flaminius in 223 B.C. where the
Gallic swords are mentioned as having no points. This implies the Roman swords
did have points.

Here is an example:

The purpose of the pommel is to balance the weapon.

The Roman gladii extant have lengths between 14.3 and 23.2
inches.The example shown above
represents the Pompeii type which replaced the older Mainz type in the middle
of the first century A.D. By contrast, Celtic swords were typically 21 to 33
inches long.

Legionnaires carried the gladius in a scabbard on their
right side and they carried a dagger (pugio) in their left side. Some have
argued that drawing the sword with the right hand would be too cumbersome while
holding the shield in the left hand, but tests have proven that a right side
gladius is quite accessible with the right hand. Centurions wore the gladius on
the left because they did not carry a dagger.

The spatha eventually replaced the gladius around the year
200 A.D.

It’s interesting to look at the metallurgy of Gladii found
in Europe. They are mostly wrought iron with carbon content at .03%. The edges
were sharpened by forging (hammering) or sharpening on a wheel. Most were
fabricated by placing strips of iron together in a sandwich. The quality is
variable probably due to the skill of European smiths of the time.

The Romans, for the most part, used local smiths to
fabricate swords for the army. Tacitus cites a case where Vespasian commanded
that “strong cities be picked out so as to get their arms factories busy.” One
of the more famous sword factories was located at Rheims.